


Benefit

by LadyM_17



Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Corporal Punishment, Physical Abuse, Unsympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27322966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyM_17/pseuds/LadyM_17
Summary: Roman fails to listen to Virgil, and Janus is displeased.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Series: Whumptober 2020 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948384
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Benefit

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Day 31:Today's Special: Torture [Whipped]
> 
> Content Warnings: Whipping, Corporal Punishment, Restraining, Inaction in response to abuse*  
> Please let me know if you think anything else should be included and take care of yourself.
> 
> *I don't know how to describe this, so look at the endnotes if you want to know more.

“Well that could’ve gone worse,” Janus said, joining the tense light sides after the eventful day.

“While I understand you mean to say it couldn’t have gone worse, it’s worth it to note that you are right,” Logan said, “It could’ve gone worse, yes, Roman’s ill-advised romantic pursuit got Thomas into trouble, but Virgil and I were able to get him out of it.”

“You and Virgil were able to get him out of it, after you listened to Virgil instead of ignoring him as you,” Janus rounded on Roman, “had been doing the whole night. Ideally, we don’t put Thomas in danger ever.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “We got him out of it.”

Janus mouth tightened. “Roman, Virgil, you two with me.”

Patton put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, stopping him from getting up. “Janus, we handle things as a team.”

“Relax, Patton, they'll be fine, but it's no use telling you and Logan anything if it doesn't concern you.”

Virgil shook off Patton’s hand and stood up. “It’ll be fine, Pat, don’t worry about it.”

Janus looked at Roman. “You coming?”

Roman stood up. “Fine.” They followed Janus to his room, which was such a blinding display of black and yellow that Roman didn’t fully realize what he was looking at, at first, a whipping post.

“What the hell?” Roman asked, moving to draw out his sword, only to find that his limbs were frozen.

“Relax, Roman, after all, don’t you relax when you ignore Virgil?” Janus asked.

Roman shot a panicked glance at Virgil, who didn’t seem to be frozen like him but wasn’t moving either. “I didn’t mean to ignore him-”

“But that’s what you did, Roman, and if the stakes had been any higher that might’ve just led to Thomas getting hurt.”

“But he didn’t get hurt!”

“Thanks to Logan and Virgil.”

“Great, I understand that, now will you let me go?” Roman hissed.

“See, I don’t think you understand the lesson, yet, do you, Virgil?”

Virgil’s head shot up. “No, no, no, Janus. Not that.”

Janus stalked toward Virgil. “Do you have some insight to provide?”

“This isn’t Roman’s fault- I could’ve, should’ve been louder, been clearer, this is on me.”

Roman frowned, that wasn’t true, and surely Janus knew that too, but he didn’t call Virgil out on it.

“Alright, so this is on you?”

“Yes, me, just me.”

“Shirt.”

Roman frowned, he didn’t understand as Virgil stripped off his shirt then he saw the scars and he understood. They knew the scars were there, of course, having lived with Virgil for years now, but they never knew why- he did now. “Virgil’s lying, Janus, you know he is!”

Janus rounded on Virgil. “So you’re lying to me now?” He asked as if he didn’t already know the answer.

Virgil flinched. “No, it’s the truth.”

“One of you is lying, Virgil, which is it?”

Roman looked between the two of them.

“Me, I lied, sorry Janus.”

Roman relaxed, Janus knew the truth now, he wasn’t going to punish Virgil for what Roman had done.

“Well we’ll just have to add a few more lashes for that, won’t we? Go ahead and grab on- try not to move.”

“No!” Roman struggled as Janus pushed him into a chair. “He told you it was my fault, why’re you still punishing him? I’m the one who messed up!”

“And what do you think I should do, Roman?”

“Punish me, Virgil didn’t do anything other than what he was supposed to do!”

“And by punish you, you mean…”

“If you’re going to whip anyone, whip me.”

Janus shook his head. “And what would that achieve?”

“I… I would learn, I suppose, to be better.”

“And you won’t learn that from this?”

“Well-”

“Because here’s what I think will happen if I whip you Roman, I think Virgil will be the one to take away a lesson, that if he fails to convince you, you get punished, which means he’ll stop warning you in order to avoid you getting in trouble for ignoring him, and that won’t help anyone.” Janus stood. “Are you ready, Virgil?”  
Virgil was holding onto the top of the post, knuckles pressed against the skin, shifting in place. “Yes.” His voice was shaking.

“Come on, Janus, this is insane!” Roman tried.

“It’s effective,” Janus corrected.

“Just leave it, Roman,” Virgil said, “No use trying to stop the inevitable.”

“Good job, Virgil, you’re learning!” Janus took out a bright yellow whip. “Now, I wouldn’t recommend moving.”

Roman flinched when the whip struck the first time, Virgil didn’t, just shifted and tightened his grip. In fact, as the whip came down again and again despite Roman’s pleas that Janus _stop it_ , Virgil didn’t move. He took at least seven silently, barely moving past grunts until the number reached thirteen, he first screamed at nineteen and Roman never wanted to hear the sound again.

“Janus, come on, you’ve made your point!”

Janus ignored him, the punishment just kept going until somewhere in the early thirties Virgil’s legs gave out, he landed on the ground hard. Janus struck him one more time before releasing Roman. “Get him out of here and listen to him next time.”

“I’ll kill you,” Roman threatened.

“I”m just doing what’s necessary,” Janus said, “This is on you, Roman.”

Roman fell silent because wasn’t Janus right? This was on him. Silently, as Janus watched, he gathered Virgil’s shirt and hoodie, and pulled Virgil up, trying his best not to hurt him too much, but his back was such a mess it was hard to avoid.

As soon as they were far enough away that Janus couldn’t see or hear them, Virgil tried to stand on his own.

“What’re you doing?” Roman asked as Virgil struggled to get his shirt back on. “Virgil, stop it, you’ll hurt yourself!”

Virgil pulled the shirt on and reached for his hoodie, his face pale and shiny. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“What? Virgil, stop it!”

“You can’t tell the others,” Virgil repeated. “Janus is just doing his job, Ro promise me.”

“Virgil, no, you need Logan’s help with those and they need to know, if they know, we can avoid it in the future.”

Virgil shook his head. “Can’t avoid it. Besides they’ve healed up just fine in the past.”

“Virgil, there’s nothing stopping him from taking Logan or Patton next time and they’ll know too then, you might as well tell them now!”

“He won’t hurt them,” Virgil assured him.

“I don’t care if he won’t hurt them, he’s hurting you!”

“It’s fine.”

Roman shook his head and pulled Virgil towards the mind palace where they’d left Logan and Patton. “Logan! Virge needs medical attention!”

“Roman, shut up!” Virgil hissed, his eyes darkening.

Logan and Patton lept up. “Where’re you hurt?” Logan demanded.

“I’m fine,” Virgil said.

“His back,” Roman informed them.

“Virgil take off your shirt,” Logan ordered.

“I’m fine,” Virgil repeated, trying to move away.

“He’s not,” Roman insisted.

“You never learn.” Janus was standing in the doorway. “Didn’t I just tell you not to ignore Virgil?”

Roman drew his sword. “Get out.”

“Roman, I’m hurt," Janus smirked. "But nevertheless, I do appreciate the sentiment and I agree that it’s easier to warn you all at once- Virgil, shirt.”

“No fucking way.”

“Virgil,” Janus turned on him, eyes flashing dangerously. “Shirt.”

Virgil glared at him as he slowly removed his hoodie and shirt, hissing in pain as he moved.

“You did this?” Patton asked turning on Janus.

Janus nodded. “I did, for Thomas, you have to listen to Virgi, and if this is the only way to get you to do it, then I will.”

“It’s far from the only way,” Logan snapped, “But consider us warned and leave.”

Janus gave a little bow and left, as Patton rushed over to Virgil. “Logan, how do we help him?”

“Get him on the couch, stomach down, I can handle this but it’ll hurt.”

Virgil groaned. “Just leave it be.”

“Sorry, but that’s not an option Virgil.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, but let himself be led to the couch.

Logan acted fast, disinfecting and bandaging Virgil’s back, who stayed inhumanely still though out the process.

“Thanks, Lo,” Virgil said begrudgingly as Roman helped him sit up.

“You can thank me by providing me with information- this was not the first time Janus has decided to exact such a punishment on you?”

“No.”

“When does he do it?”

He used to when I couldn’t get through to Thomas, or when my own anxiety cut through to him, and now I'm here, I guess when I can’t get through to you guys.”

“Well then we’ll just have to ensure that you are able to get through to us,” Logan said.

Patton turned to Logan in shock. “We’re just letting Janus get away with that?”

“I’m with Patton, Logan, we can’t just give into what he wants!” Roman couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Janus is an integral part to Thomas, even if we could stop him, I doubt we could do so without hurting Thomas.”

“But surely this hurts Thomas too!” Patton said, gesturing to Virgil.

Virgil shook his head. “It doesn’t anymore, I’ve learned how to control that.”

Roman flinched at the thought of what that learning process must’ve included.

“And Patton, we’ll do our best to avoid letting Janus get any closer to Virgil- that’s all we can do.”

“That can’t be-“

“It is, Pat,” Virgil said. “And, really, Janus isn’t irrational, well,” Virgil amended when seeing the look on Roman’s face, “He’s not going to do anything if you ignore me when I’m being irrational, it’s just when I’m being rational.”

“And how do we tell the difference?” Roman demanded.

“We must err on the side of caution,” Logan said. “For everyone’s benefit.”

**Author's Note:**

> *Once finding out about Janus's treatment of Virgil, the Light Sides's solution is to find ways to avoid making him angry. 
> 
> And with that, Whumptober comes to a close. Have a wonderful day and Happy Halloween!


End file.
